Gov. Scott Walker said Thursday he won't push for more extensive background checks for gun owners in Wisconsin despite inaction in the U.S. Senate. / Gannett Wisconsin Media, file

Written by

Scott Bauer

Associated Press

MADISON – Gov. Scott Walker said Thursday he won’t push for more extensive background checks for gun owners in Wisconsin, despite inaction in the U.S. Senate and a recent poll showing overwhelming public support for such a move in the state.

Walker was asked about the issue during a conference call from Shanghai, where he is leading a 10-day trade mission. The governor has repeatedly said he is focused on improving mental health services in the state and he reiterated that Thursday.

Wisconsin requires people who purchase guns from federal licensed dealers to undergo background checks, but it doesn’t regulate private transactions. Democrats have introduced a bill in the Legislature calling for universal background checks that would make it illegal to buy or sell most firearms in the state without a background check.

Walker said the issue should be left to the federal government to regulate, not individual states.

State Rep. Jon Richards, D-Milwaukee, said Walker and Republican legislative leaders who have refused to act on the bill he introduced were showing a “failure of leadership.”

“They need to listen to people around the country, and certainly peple in this state, who overwhelmingly feel that having background checks is important to have when you transfer guns,” Richards said.

A Marquette University law school poll released in March showed that 81 percent of respondents said they supported background checks for people who buy guns at gun shows or from private residents in Wisconsin. About 54 percent of respondents said they favor banning assault-style weapons.

The U.S. Senate on Wednesday failed to garner enough support for measures that would have expanded background checks to sales at gun shows and online, ban assault-style weapons and limit the capacity of ammunition magazines. President Barack Obama, who made the measure a top priority and pushed hard for its passage, called inaction on the proposal a “shameful day for Washington.”

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Wisconsin’s U.S. senators were divided on the bill. Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin voted for it Wednesday while Republican Sen. Ron Johnson voted against it.

The National Rifle Association opposed the Senate bill. The NRA is a staunch backer of Walker, having spent more than $815,000 in independent expenditures on behalf of Walker in his recall election last year.

Walker has received an A-plus rating from the group. He spoke at the NRA’s national convention last year, winning an award for signing the measure allowing Wisconsin residents to carry concealed weapons and another bill giving legal protection to homeowners who shoot and kill intruders on their property. Both were high priorities of the NRA.

The NRA has registered in opposition to Richards’ gun background check bill in Wisconsin. The measure appears all but dead in the Legislature given Walker’s position and opposition from Republican leaders.

The bill has generated support from Elvin Daniel, whose sister Zina Haughton was among seven people shot in an attack by her husband at a Brookfield spa last October. Haughton’s husband bought the handgun from a private owner just days before the shooting and after she was granted a restraining order against him.

Backers of the Democrats’ bill, including Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, argue a universal background check law may have prevented his purchase of the gun.

But Republicans who control the Legislature, echoing Walker’s position, have said they are deferring to the federal government. Assembly Majority Leader Scott Suder, R-Abbotsford, has called the Democrats’ bill an unnecessary political stunt that would deny gun owners’ constitutional rights.

And Senate Republican Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said in a statement Thursday the bill was going nowhere.

“There is not enough support for the bill in the Senate at this time,” Fitzgerald said. “I don’t foresee us advancing gun control legislation this session.”

Walker has proposed adding about $29 million in funding for mental health programs in the state, including community-based care for adults and children with severe mental illness. The spending plan also would establish an Office of Children’s Mental Health.

Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos also created a bipartisan mental health task force, which was meeting Thursday in Milwaukee.